The present invention relates to a target device for pinball games and, in particular, to a drop target assembly.
In a typical drop target assembly a target member is vertically movable through a slot in a frame between a raised position extending well above the associated playfield board and a retracted position. The target member is coupled to a bias means which urges it toward its retracted position and which also urges it, when it is in its raised position, toward a latched condition in which a latch notch in the target member engages the frame to hold the target member in its raised position and prevent it from dropping to its retracted position. When the raised target member is struck by a pinball, it is deflected backwards a slight distance sufficient to unlatch it from the frame, whereupon it is retracted by the bias means. However, such drop target members sometimes fail to drop when engaged by a pinball, because when the target member is struck with sufficient force, it rebounds off the back of the slot in the frame and snaps immediately back to its latched condition before the bias means can pull it downwardly a sufficient distance so that the latch notch clears the top of the frame.